The fireworks tore into the crowd, burning picnic blankets. Smoke and darkness followed, as did chaos in a Fourth of July fireworks explosion in Simi Valley that left dozens, including a 17-month-old child, injured.

Investigators don't yet know what caused the massive fireworks malfunction Thursday night at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park. Contradicting earlier reports, Ventura County Fire Chief Mike LaPlant said officials still have not confirmed if a wooden stand holding the fireworks tipped over and caused the blast.

At least 35 people were taken to local hospitals following the accident, which launched pyrotechnics into a crowd of 10,000 gathered in the park.

Shortly after the 9 p.m. show started, nearly half of the fireworks suddenly went off, said Ventura County Fire Department officials, causing havoc as celebrants were sprayed with burning fireworks. The majority of reported injuries were burns or puncture wounds caused by projectiles, hospital officials said.

Simi Valley resident Danny Morales, 42, had a front-row seat to the accident. When the first of the fireworks blasted low to the ground, he thought it was a dud. But then a second explosion came, sending family members behind coolers or into the grass to escape the wall of heat that followed the blast.

Morales was hit in the face, likely by a steaming device, breaking his nose and searing his skin.

In the dark. parents screamed their childrens' names, and Morales could smell burning hair and wool blankets. "It was absolute chaos," he said, speaking Friday afternoon after receiving 15 stitches to his face.

Bay Fireworks, the New York-based company behind the event, issued a statement Friday, saying it will conduct "a thorough and complete investigation" of the incident. "Our major concern and focus is for the injured spectators and their families," said CEO Dennis Brady Jr.

The majority of the victims received care at Simi Valley Hospital. Of the 26 victims, 23 were released within hours. As of Friday, three remained at the facility, said a hospital spokeswoman. Victims were also treated at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.

Additionally, Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital treated and released five people, said a representative for the facility.

The wounded ranged in age from 17 months to 71 years, including a worker from Bay Fireworks, who hurt his leg running from the blast. an official said.

Locals don't suspect foul play in the incident and referred to it as an industrial accident. It is being investigated by the Ventura County Fire Department, spokesman Tom Kruschke said.

Watching the show from the house across the street, Alessi Smith, 28, sensed something was wrong from the start. The first two fireworks looked wobbly, she said, then an explosion followed, and the fireworks fanned out into the crowd. They also ricocheted into the ground and bounced up. An empty space in the small lot next to Smith's house caught fire as fireworks landed.

In a separate incident, a pyrotechnics operator was critically burned Thursday night in a July Fourth fireworks show in Ojai. Julie Hechman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, said Bay Fireworks, which produced the Simi Valley show, and Zambelli Fireworks, which was hired for the show in Ojai, are both well known within the industry. Such accidents are rare, she said.

The Fourth of July fireworks show is a 30-year tradition in Simi Valley, drawing thousands of celebrants annually. On Friday, yellow police tape was wrapped around the trees at the park, and undetonated fireworks still stood in wooden boxes.

Nestled in the grass were signs of a party cut short: a half-eaten plate of nachos, a portable grill and a child's tiny patent-leather sandal.

Simi Valley resident Tiffany Eaton, 28, watched the fireworks from a nearby hilltop, two miles from the park. She could hear the explosion and then watched as the ground rose.